| Editorial |
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| Microscope |
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| Secular Democracy: On the Retreat |
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Sajjad Khan
For many events in the Middle East in recent months have vindicated President Bush's bold and courageous decision to invade Iraq in the spring of 2003. Bush and his neo-conservative supporters have claimed that freedom is breaking out everywhere across the Middle East and Islamic world, just as they said it would. However the author argues that since 9-11, far from democracy being on the march it has actually been sounding the retreat. Even events in the Middle East, which have been cited as evidence of the spread of democracy,
are on closer inspection actually a sign of a trend away from western political ideals.
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| How Should the West View Islam's Political Aspirations? |
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Dr Abdullah Robin
Islam is the antithesis to secularism; it is a political phenomenon that draws its life from the spiritual and moral. Should the west,
therefore, view Islam with fear, hope or indifference?
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| Afghan Choices or American Interests? |
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Dr Salman Ahmed
Afghanistan is presented by the Bush administration as the flagship in the administration's efforts to promote democracy and
good governance in the Islamic world.The problem with such an optimistic reading of the situation in Afghanistan is that it
contradicts a plethora of official and independent reports.The optimism is largely based on incomplete information driven by a
political agenda and is likely to prolong Afghanistan's many crises rather than produce the necessary political solutions to
alleviate them.
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| The Shi'a and Sunni: an Islamic or a Secular Approach? |
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Akmal Asghar
According to some, the Sunni and Shi'a differences represent a long-standing fracture in the Islamic Ummah, which lies at the heart
of numerous conflicts in the Muslim world.Whether such conflicts are a consequence of their doctrinal disagreement is questionable however, as is the suitability of a secular political model for tackling their differences. Contrary to western political assumptions, secularism's delineation of public and private spheres fails to prevent tensions that arise from the public assertion of religious identity.Akmal Asghar argues that Islam - not secularism - provides a political system behind which both can unify.
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| Elevating the 'Political' to Code-Red |
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Brad Evans
In the immediate aftermath of the events of 9-11, the United States Department for Homeland Security introduced its Homeland Security Advisory System. Rarely moving below 'Guarded', the Advisory System has in fact become a way to continually position society in a state of perpetual war, where the nation's anxiety and fear can be continually charted, managed and affected. Moreover, as this article seeks to explore, it provides but one example of how 'code red' threats represent the mere existence of political alternatives. So maybe it is time that we construct our own warning systems and elevate them to 'code red', for what we are witnessing with this new security agenda is a challenge to the very existence of political alternatives.
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| Islamic Politics and the Problem of Universalism |
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Joe Bord
If Islamic politics is to offer a sustainable and universal alternative, then it will have to open itself to non-Muslims too. Political Islam
needs to address the common sense of pluralist societies. Joe Bord explores just what such an opening might require.
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| Islam can 'Make Poverty History' |
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Farooq Khan
This year the British government, together with charity organisations and faith groups, declared its aim to 'Make Poverty History' as
Britain takes up the chairmanship of the G8, and presidency of the European Union. However solutions rooted within a capitalist
framework will continue to fail as they have for the last fifty years.To fundamentally solve the issue of poverty in Africa alternative
ideological paradigms are now urgently required.
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| Islamophobia is Real |
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The writer and broadcaster Kenan Malik insists Islamophobia doesn't exist. Is the notion of Muslims being under siege merely a myth?
Shiraz Maher argues that Malik's assertion rests on a false premise, leading him to misunderstand the rising anxiety within Britain's
Muslim communities.
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| China: Pretender or Contender? |
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Riaz Hassan
With more than a decade of outstanding economic growth, and its adoption of a "great-power mentality" (daguo xintai), is China really
a dragon on the hunt? Riaz Hassan analyses China's expanding foreign policy objectives. Such objectives are resulting in regional complications
that US foreign policy will be forced to face but may not be able to counter.
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| Reviewing UN Reform and US Intelligence Forecasts |
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A review of Kofi Annan's recent UN reform proposals and a look at the US National Intelligence Council's recent report 'Mapping
the Global Future' from its 'Global Vision 2020' project which points to the emergence of a new Caliphate.
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| Iraq in Perspective: from Occupation to Self-Determination |
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Javed Ansari
The US-staged Iraqi election on January 30th 2005 was heralded a success with some 8.5 million or 58% of eligible voters casting
votes to elect the 275-member Transitional National Assembly.The US was clearly jubilant about the success of the plebiscite, which
was depicted as a watershed event and a triumph for the establishment of democracy in Iraq. However, amid the self-congratulation
over the apparent success of the elections, electoral boycott across major Iraqi cities such as Ramadi, Mosul, and Fallujah,
representing some 40% of the population, had been conveniently ignored.
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| Letters to the Editor | |
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| A Postcard from Jerusalem | |
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